Dinner:
Soup made out of the remaining yellow split pea mash by adding some water to it and stirring it properly, adding three chopped carrots and some of the rice to that.

The soup looked a bit dismal. It looked like the sort of thing you see in war films, with a lot of people waiting in line with a bowl that gets filled with beige watery stuff with sad bits floating in, goop that looks neither particularly nourishing nor any kind of tasty.

Lookie!

Good thing I have salt, pepper, and soya sauce, really. And the parsley I remembered to add to the second bowl. A bit of pale green may not have made too big a difference, but still. It made it just that little bit cheerier.

So my soup looked like that. Though my bowl, while not exactly cheery (I think it’s from the 70s. Random brown and grey) had flowers. I guess I should’ve gone with the the other bowl, the one with more prominent poppies.
The whole thing made me think of The Supersizers Go… Wartime, really. To be honest, this entire challenge made me think of that. Good episode, that. The entire show was awesomely brilliant and fun. Though very NOT VEGAN, in case you have the chance to watch an episode, any episode.

I’m also feeling this week’s menu is lacking variety for a bit. So far, at least. Then again, I’m not sure this is much less varied than the way I usually eat. It’s just involved fewer grocery runs.
Should’ve maybe eaten some fruit today… Skip one meal, and suddenly it’s a fruitless day.

Uneventful day, food-wise. Could’ve put in some more veg, to be honest. Maybe I’ll have a carroty snack later.
Should probably finish the pea mush tomorrow. Maybe I’ll make some soup out of it. Add some water, one or two carrots… Should work.

So far, this $21 challenge is not actually too difficult.
Perhaps €16 buys a decent week’s food around here.
Perhaps I’ve not planned properly and and the whole thing will start to become really annoying once the weekend arrives and I’ve a few more days to go without enough money to get me proper meals. Seeing as I suck at planning and therefore didn’t actually plan anything, this is a very real possibility.
We’ll see.

Anyway, while my lack of planning abilities would make living like this long-term a bit more difficult, there are certain things that definitely made it easier for me to begin with. I probably don’t realise all of them, the way privilege works and all, but here are the ones I’m aware of. Please tell me if you think there’s some I missed.

Several ways in which I’m privileged food-wise:

My brain works in a way that allows me to do my daily things quite easily.

I have easy, at-home internet access for recipes and food information and my language skills are good enough to understand a lot of it.

I’ve had a basic education on what kinds of food are healthy and was raised in a way that featured those foods in abundance.

I have no one but myself to take care of.

I have time to prepare meals and check out several places for my groceries.

I live within walking distance of three supermarket chains, of which two are considered discount supermarkets. All sell a good variety of fresh foods.

I have several small ethnic shops nearby, which widens my food options and access to (relatively) cheap foods.

I have a very wide choice in supermarkets and ethnic food markets within bikeable distance.

I live within bikeable distance from at least two large second-hand shops where I can get cheap kitchen things.

I live in an urban area with good public transport which I’m able to use for free most weekdays because I’m a student.

I live in a country where I’m not that likely to have to choose between buying food or paying for medical care.

I have family and friends getting me in touch with free kitchen swag (immersion blender, fridge, microwave, food processor,
plates, cutlery, mugs) or gifting me some. A good many things in my kitchen were given to me, especially the more expensive things.

Should I be in trouble, those people would be able to help me out.

I generally have enough money to buy bulk to same money in the long run and I have space to store things.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with cinnamon and chopped apple. Filling and nice enough, though tomorrow I’ll have to add a pinch of salt before microwaving.

Lunch:
Four sandwiches, peanut butter+cucumber slices+sambal.

Dinner:
The rest of the salad, fried rice and veg with some peanut sauce.
Salad: dumped whatever was left into a bowl, added some soya sauce and pepper.
Fried rice and veg: chopped up one bell-pepper, chucked it into the frying pan. Chopped up three carrots, added them to the pan. Waited a bit, then chopped up two tomatoes and added them to the pan. Added a few (regular, not measuring, precision not necessary here) table spoons of rice. Added some soya sauce and some of the spice mix I’d used yesterday. Let it heat up for a bit.
Peanut sauce: put a heaped (regular, not measuring) spoon of peanut butter in a small bowl, added some water (amount depends on desired consistency. Start with a little, add more if you want it more runny), added some sambal (red pepper paste, optional, can be subbed with whatever peppery thing you want), some sumac, some garlic powder, and some fenurgeek powder. Stir until it becomes a homogeneous paste, heat it in the microwave. I heated it for just about a minute, and it got a fair bit thicker so you may want to keep that in mind when adding water.

Picture:

While eating this, I watched Rhys Morgan’s video about what went on at a Crohn’s forum he was registered at. Apparently at support forums, it’s not okay to mention that some quack nonsense is not just unhelpful but also actually dangerous and going against the mood will get you banned. :/
Really annoying, such things.

Dinner:
Brown rice with yellow split-pea goop, mixed salad.
Salad chucked in a bowl straight from the bag.
Rice cooked according to instructions from The Cranks Bible.
Yellow split pea goop made by sort of frying an onion in a little water, cooking the split peas with a few spices (garlic powder, massala mix powder, sumac) and blending them a little more than necessary. Added some salt, pepper, soya sauce and windowsill parsley after putting it on my plate.

Picture:

Stuff used:

Two pans, probably bought at Ikea for <€10, possibly <€5 each.

Immersion blender: gift.

Plates: large deep one bought at second hand place, <€1, probably <€0.50, small one: gift. Bowl bought in France when I needed something for my cereal, probably <€5.